Thursday, October 14, 2010

With friends like this...

You always start with the premise any state treasurer considers the lottery and unclaimed money lists as opportunities for personal political self-aggrandizement. The e-mails among Dane Strother, Adam Meldrum and Scott Campbell are exculpatory only in that they prove the former Cahill aides thought like consultants.

“Get the lottery immediately cutting a spot and get it up,’’ ... Strother wrote to four top campaign aides July 27. Needs to focus on the lottery being the best in the country and above reproach.’’

What is missing, so far, is any smoking gun, in the form of exchanges with lottery advertising officials putting an actual plan into motion.

But the e-mails do fit nicely into the Cahill assertion that his one-time friends were working, deliberately or not, to sink his efforts by putting into writing notions such as the lottery gambit that would be best left to words -- if spoken at all.

More interesting is the appearance of Baker campaign fund-raising material at the e-mail addresses of Meldrum, John Weaver and John Yob, the one-time aides being sued by Cahill. The treasurer's attorney says the only way that would happen is if the Baker camp has data provided to them by the Turncoat Trio.

About the only thing certain is this sordid political soap opera will continue to play out for a few more days as the political clock continues to click down, forcing Baker to play defense during the dwindling time he has to close the sale with voters that he is not about business as usual.

And as for the incumbent? Well Deval Patrick certainly can find a reason to smile with the latest Suffolk University-Channel 7 poll showing Patrick opening up a 7-point lead, at Cahill's expense. More significant, it appears to mirrors a recent Rasmussen poll showing Patrick is moving out of the 30s where his numbers have long resided and topped 45 percent, a key benchmark in a three-way race.

With 20 days to go, nothing is certain, other than Cahill is determined to make life miserable for Baker. And Patrick is the only one who benefits from this politics as usual episode.